Inori
by SuperKateB
Summary: Hino Rei thought her life was finally looking up. But now - one year away from the end of her high school career - she discovers that her Minister of Defense father has started putting together her life for her. Can she destroy the ghosts of the past?
1. Prelude: As it was in the Beginning

"Glory be to the Father,   
And to the Son,  
And to the Holy Ghost.  
As it was in the beginning,   
Is now, and ever shall be.  
World without end,  
A-men."  
- the Gloria Patri, written 1851 by Henry W. Greatorex  
  
======  
Inori  
Prelude - "As it was in the Beginning..."  
Written by Kate "SuperKate" Butler (duncan@avenew.com)  
======  
  
He sighed, leaning forward to caress the child's cheek gently. Even his old, stubby fingers,  
the knuckles rimmed by wrinkles, could feel the perfect softness of the girl's skin. "She's   
beautiful," he choked out, staring down at the infant before him. "Just like her mother was..."  
  
"Yes, yes," sighed the dark-haired man from his desk, not bothering to look up at his   
elderly visitor. His dark eyes remained focused on the typewriter page, never wavering. "Sora was   
beautiful, Rei is beautiful, I understand." He shook his head and finally pulled himself from his   
work, turning to glance down at the old man. "Now, Hino-san, I know you didn't come here just to   
complement me on my daughter. Something is bothering you, and I want you to tell me. Otherwise, you   
may not be coming back to this house."  
  
Hino Hito sighed and pursed his lips, lifting his face from the child's bassinette to turn  
toward his son-in-law. Well, the man who had been his son-in-law before... A frown crossed a wrinkled,  
normally jovial face as he crossed the room and sat in the armchair before the other man's desk. For   
the first time in his life, he was actually fearful of what the younger man would say and do to him.  
As long as Sora had been alive, her husband had watched his tongue, never daring to cross her. Now,  
he couldn't be so certain what the shifty-eyed, always cold politician would say and do.  
  
"Seiji-kun, I want you to be honest with me," he began, fiddling idly with the sash of his   
traditional Shinto robes as he spoke. "I think we both know that you'll be running for our parliament  
next year. Tell me, do you think that you'll have the time - or the desire, for that matter - to   
tend to your own daughter as you campaign your way to the top?"  
  
Tugging off his glasses, Nuzono Seiji eyed the elderly man carefully. In all the time his wife  
had lived, the government official had never been interested in the man's words. Until now, that is.  
Now, he suddenly found a new reason to appreciate the virtual stranger. "You've managed to spark my  
interest, Hino-san. Please, continue."  
  
In her bassinette, the infant stirred and whimpered slightly, but neither her father or   
grandfather heard her rousing.  
  
"I know that you loved my daughter as much as I loved my wife, and that you love your child  
as much as I loved mine," pressed the Shinto priest, feeling his determination beginning to build,   
backing his every word and thought. "But Seiji, I think we both know that Rei should not be forced  
to move around, campaigning, or to be locked up and tutored for her entire life. She needs friends, a  
sense of belonging... She deserves a normal life."  
  
At this, his son-in-law scoffed slightly, setting his reading glasses back onto the bridge  
of his nose in one smooth movement. "I do not think that my daughter's life will be as horrible as   
you think, Hino-san," he retorted coolly, fingers beginning to press down the familiar keys of his   
typewriter as he spoke. "I appreciate your concern, though, and - "  
  
Dark eyes, eyes that were almost black, widened as the short, slightly rotund man stood and  
pulled the sheet of paper out of the machine. "My daughter is dead, Seiji, and I don't think I have  
to remind you that it was partially your fault that she no longer walks this Earth." Brown eyes   
narrowed direly at the young man before him. "Sora was all I had, and you stole her away from me,   
first by marriage and then, by her death. I won't let you take my granddaughter from me, too." He   
turned to glance sorrowfully at the bassinette, a sigh escaping his lips. "How long will it be before  
you bore of her and turn away from her for the sake of your work? How long before she finds herself  
ignored and alone, just as Sora did?"  
  
Rising, Seiji moved to stand above the small babe's bed, staring down at the child. A few   
messy strands of black hair hung her face as eyes - the brightest, most lively violet color he had   
ever seen - stared up at him. He moved to brush the strands from her face, frowning as she flinched.  
Could she be making the decision on his behalf? Perhaps.  
  
"I can pay you enough for her education and basic board, but that is all," he informed the  
old man, voice suddenly turning cold as he walked back to his desk and slid a new sheet of paper  
into his typewriter. "She will attend the schools I wish for her to attend, and her fate will still  
remain in my hands. The first weekend of every month, I will have an afternoon visitation with the  
child." He glanced up from his work and toward the grinning man before him. "But I want you to realize  
one thing, Hino-san."  
  
Hito frowned slightly, brow furrowing. He wasn't sure that he wanted to hear what it was his  
son-in-law had to say. "What's that?" he questioned carefully.  
  
The politician sighed, eyes moving to glance at the wedding picture that was still proudly  
displayed on the corner of the desk. "I want you to realize that I regret Sora's death every day  
of my life...and I always will."  
  
The Shinto smiled sadly and nodded in agreement. "So do I."  
  
---  
End Prelude. 


	2. Chapter 1: Forgive us our Trespasses

======  
Inori  
Chapter One - "Forgive Us Our Trespasses"  
Written by Kate "SuperKate" Butler  
======  
  
Spring had come at last and - for one of the few times in her life - Hino Rei found herself   
striding down the sidewalk with a grin on her face and bounce in her step. Mass had ended early on  
the first day of school, a pleasant surprise, and she would later be joining the girls at Crown Fruit  
Parlor to celebrate the start of what would be their last year of high school.   
  
"Usagi-chan's attitude must have finally rubbed off on me," thought the young Shinto woman   
aloud as she took the stairs up to Hikawa Shrine in increments of two and three. A smirk crossed her  
face. "Maybe that means I've finally instilled a sense of maturity and responsibility in her."  
  
She crossed under the Tor, her usually happy thoughts broken for a moment as she sent a   
private prayer up to Kami above. Then, her smile returned, and she found herself laughing at her   
thoughts. "And maybe the world will stop turning," she chuckled, her long hair ruffled by a gust   
of springtime wind. She reached up to pluck a sakura petal from the air, toying with the soft, sweet-  
smelling flower before letting it go.   
  
In her life, she had coped with battles, pain, suffering, and all sorts of other insane   
happenings that were more unrealistic than most the manga she had ever read. After fourteen years of  
being the ward of her grandfather, and seven years of being a Shinto miko, her life had been suddenly  
interrupted by a funny odango-headed girl by the name of Tsukino Usagi. And with Usagi came the news  
that she - Hino Rei - was actually the Princess and Sailor Senshi of the planet Mars, reborn after  
a century of dormancy. Since that day, her life had been filled with battles and pain, with hurt and  
suffering, and with the four best friends a human could hope for.   
  
But the battles had ended a year earlier, at the tail end of her first year of high school.  
Now, she was beginning her third and final year, the last year of attending T.A. Girl's Academy under  
the guise of being a typical salary man's Catholic daughter. Now, she could start the life she had so  
waited for - the life of a full-fledged Shinto priestess.   
  
"Ojii-san, I'm home!" she called, kicking off her shoes at the door as she stepped into their   
house, which was attached to the shrine proper. She walked to her room and discarded her school bag,   
frowning. Usually, if her grandfather wasn't in the courtyard when she arrived home, he'd be inside   
the house. Had he gone to the shrine? Or out for groceries, perhaps?  
  
"I understand your concern, Seiji-kun, but I don't think..." A familiar voice echoed through  
the house, and Rei peeked her head into the hallway only to see her grandfather scowling irritably   
into the phone. A small frown touched her red lips before she could realize that she was frowning  
at all. Seiji-kun? But that would mean he was talking to...  
  
Her grandfather flinched and pulled the receiver from his ear, incomprehensible words   
streaming from the earpiece. "Alright!" he conceded when the harsh words had subsided, "but I don't  
know what her decision will be. Of course, of course. Ja."  
  
As he set the receiver back into the cradle, Rei stepped forward, swallowing back the lump in  
her throat. "Ojii-san?" she questioned, drawing his attention; he obviously hadn't realized that his  
granddaughter was watching. "Was that...?"  
  
The elderly man nodded solemnly and leaned back against the hallway wall, starting listlessly  
at the ceiling. Generally, he was a many of many varying moods; he could be more than happy at one  
moment, and then spend the next moment attempting to hold back tears. Seeing him so solemn, so   
serious.... Rei felt her mouth go dry.  
  
"Your father has arranged for you to have a place in Tokyo University's School of Political   
Science," he informed her softly, pursing his lips as he spoke. "At your next lunch date, he's going  
to give you all the testing information, but..."  
  
Rei's breath caught in her throat. "Did you tell him that I intend to become a priestess?" she  
asked softly, her voice hardly audible. "Did he say anything to that?"  
  
Her grandfather pounded the wall lightly with a fist, not caring as the few photos hung in the  
hallway rattled at the impact. "If you refuse, he'll revoke my custody, and you'll have to live with  
him."  
  
The dark-haired teen's eyes filled up with tears almost immediately.  
  
So much for having a good day.  
  
------  
  
"Are you alright, Rei-chan?" came the question she had been expecting since she had arrived  
an hour earlier, already ten minutes late for their celebratory meeting at Crown Fruit Parlor. Bright  
blue eyes shone through thick lashes as the blonde eyed her friend curiously. "You look really sad."  
  
"Demosa, Minako-chan, you know how Rei is," laughed Usagi with a wave of her hand, as though   
she was trying to quell any-and-all negative thoughts. "Even if she was the most popular singer in   
Japan, she would STILL be able to find something to frown about!"  
  
Scowling, the brunette who was seated between the two blondes rolled her bright green eyes.  
"If something's wrong, Rei-chan, you can tell us," she assured the Shinto softly, her voice unusually  
quiet and supportive. "We're all behind you, whatever's going on."  
  
Rei sighed and shook her head slightly, moving a hand to brush her messy, dark bangs from her   
face. Despite the feeling of dread that welled in the pit of her stomach, she had refused to miss  
out on the promised meeting with her friends. A soft smile touched her lips as she felt the four  
pairs of eyes staring at her, waiting. Waiting to be endless streams of support and love.   
  
She raised her head, stirring her soda idly with a straw. "My father phoned today," she told  
them softly, her voice nearly lost to the hustle and bustle of their favorite cafe. "He's secured  
me a place in Tokyo University's Political Science School."  
  
"The Political Science School?" echoed Mizuno Ami, eyes blossoming as the dark-haired one   
nodded solemnly. "Tokyo University is hard enough to get into, but to have a seat in the School of  
Political Science..." She bit her lower lip, frowning slightly. "Your father must have friends in  
high places."  
  
"He does," sighed Rei, staring at the bubbling drink that she had yet to touch. "He told   
ojii-san that I have no choice in the matter. I either go to Tokyo U willingly as a political science  
student, or he'll revoke custody and force me to live under his roof. And I don't turn eighteen until  
the very start of next school year, and so..."  
  
A hand slapped the tabletop, and everyone glanced away from Rei to see their odango-headed  
princess stand up from her seat, a determined look on her face. "You must follow your dream of being  
a priestess, Rei-chan!" she announced, loudly enough that a few of the other parlor patrons turned  
to glance toward their favorite booth. "If you go to Tokyo University and let your father win, it will  
be like letting Galaxia win!" Blue eyes lowered dangerously in the miko's direction. "Would you WANT  
to let Galaxia win, Rei-chan?"  
  
Tugging Usagi back into her seat by a pigtail, Minako shook her head. "It's not that simple,   
Usagi-chan," she admonished, sighing. "She can't just refuse her father."  
  
"Ara?" blinked the other blonde. "She can't?"  
  
Eyebrow twitching a bit, Ami gave a small shake of her head. "Rei-chan is still a ward of her  
parents until she is eighteen," she explained, folding her hands atop the table. "She won't turn   
eighteen until after the beginning of college, and so she'll have to listen to her father until then."  
She frowned. "It's a tough spot for Rei-chan to be in."  
  
Usagi flashed a triumphant smile toward the blue-haired genius. "Rei-chan can just go to   
college, get a degree, and THEN go home to the shrine!" she announced, as though she had solved the  
mystery of the world. "That way, it's all fine, ne?"  
  
As Makoto, Minako, and Ami face vaulted into the floor, Rei sighed and pursed her pink lips.  
"My father has so many plans for me," she informed the group, purple eyes full of sorrow and hurt as  
she still stared at her drink. "He wants me to take after him, be a politician and act like a   
Westerner, but... I don't want that." She toyed idly with a small chip in the glass. "His work has   
been his life, and he's never really cared about me...or mother."  
  
"Your mother?" blinked Makoto, nearly gaping at the Shinto. "But, Rei-chan, you've never   
even mentioned her to us before..."  
  
"She died shortly after I was born." Her hair hung her face as she lowered her head, cupping  
her chin in a hand. "Some sort of internal hemorrhage, I guess. My father was too busy with his work  
to notice how weak and sick she had become, and by the time he noticed..." Anger filled her expression  
as she glowered at nothing in particular. A single tear traced down her cheek. "Because of him,  
I don't.... She's..."  
  
The other four senshi glanced at one another nervously, none of them certain what to say.   
Never before had their spiritual friend shown such emotion, or spoke so passionately about her parents.  
What more could they say or do?  
  
Rei rose to her feet, pulling a few thousand-yen bills from her pocket and tossing them on   
the table. "Gomen ne, minna-chan," she sighed, forcing a small smile. "I need some time alone, if you  
don't mind."  
  
"Demo, Rei - ITTTTTTAI!" Usagi doubled over in pain, clutching her side where Makoto had   
elbowed her. HARD. "Mako-chan, what was that for?!" she hollered, once again drawing more attention  
from strangers than absolutely necessary.  
  
The brunette waited until the sliding glass door closed behind their friend to respond.   
"Sometimes, Usagi-chan, not even you can fix everything," she scolded softly, her green eyes still  
staring at the closed door. "This is something that Rei-chan has to do on her own."  
  
------  
  
As she walked home from Crown Fruit Parlor, she felt as though she was still seven years old,  
going to register for her first day at T.A. Girl's Academy.  
  
She had spent her first year of elementary school at Juuban Public School, which was only a   
short walk from Hikawa Shrine. However, after first grade was through, her father had phoned and   
informed both she and her ojii-san that she was going to attend a private Catholic academy, twice as  
far from the shrine but with what her father insisted was "a flawless reputation."  
  
"What's a Catholic?" blinked the little girl as her grandfather helped her with her yellow  
rain boots. Outside the safety of their house, the rain poured down onto the pavement, thunder   
echoing in the distance. "Is it a new kind of teacher?"  
  
Hino Hito chucked, double-knotting her boots. "A Catholic is someone who practices a different  
kind of religion from us, that's all," he explained, his brown eyes meeting her bright, smiling   
purple ones. "Your father is Catholic, and he wants you to be schooled just like he was as a boy."  
  
Young Rei scowled, her tiny little nose wrinkling. "But I don't know anything about being   
a Catholic!" she protested as he struggled to help her with her rain coat. "How come I have to go   
all that way to a different school just 'cause Papa wants me to be a Catholic?"  
  
"It's the way it is, Rei-chan," was all her grandfather would answer.  
  
She trudged to school in the rain that day, still wearing her white-and-blue Juuban uniform  
from the year before. Kind-hearted teachers, all wearing funny black dresses and strange hats, were  
more than happy to direct her to second-grade classroom B, where she was surrounded by other, smiling  
students - all of them girls.  
  
"Nuzono Rei?" questioned the teacher - another woman with a funny black dress, noted the child  
with a small frown - during the roll call. The other girls all glanced at one another, wondering   
who in the world the girl was. The teacher scowled down at the list. "Nuzono Rei from...Hikawa Shrine  
on Sendai Hill?"  
  
Purple eyes blinked and the girl in the back of the room scuffled to her feet as quickly as  
she could. A few of her classmates snickered as she bowed respectfully toward the teacher, just as  
she had learned to do the year before. "Gomen nasai, sensei, but my name isn't Nuzono Rei," she put  
in, flushing red as one girl pointed to her white and blue uniform, starkly different from the   
academy's gray-and-burgundy garb. "My name is Hino Rei."  
  
Chuckling, the teacher shook her head. "I'm sorry, Rei-chan, but you were registered as   
Nuzono Rei by your father. You will have to take it up with him."   
  
More chuckles echoed through the classroom as the girl nodded and slowly sat back down,   
folding her hands on her desktop. Nuzono? But she had never even heard that name before! How in the   
world could it be her last name?  
  
She rushed home in the rain, her yellow rain slicker unbuttoned and her hood flapping behind  
her like a fish's fin. "Ojii-san!" she wailed, tears mingling with rain as she rushed into the   
house, tripping over her rain boots as she tossed them in the foyer. The old man's eyes widened as   
she ran to hug him around the legs. "Ojii-san, is my last name really not Hino?" she cried, her face  
buried in his priest robes. "Am I really Nuzono Rei-chan, ojii?"  
  
Rei stood on the final step of Sendai Hill, staring across Hikawa Shrine. That day, her   
grandfather - the man she admired most in the world - had explained her father...and her mother.  
  
Sighing, she stepped through the Tor. "I'm home," she whispered to the quiet temple grounds.  
  
The whistling of the wind through cherry trees was her only answer.  
  
------  
End Chapter 1. 


	3. Chapter 2: Amazing Grace

"Through many dangers, toils, and snares,  
I have already come.  
'Tis grace that brought me safe thus far,  
And grace will lead me home."  
- Amazing Grace  
  
======  
Inori  
Chapter Two - "Amazing Grace"  
Written by Kate "SuperKate" Butler  
======  
  
The nun in charge of the T.A. Girl's Academy senior choir waved her arms furiously, cutting off  
the singers in mid-sentence. "Nuzono-chan!" she scolded one girl in particular, her blue eyes narrowing  
dangerously as she wagged a finger toward the second row of girls. "Are you paying attention at ALL  
to where we are in this piece?"  
  
Bowing quickly, the dark-haired girl adverted her purple eyes, staring at the floor guiltily.  
A few of her choir mates snickered, but a scowl from their sister in faith silenced their laughter.  
"Gomen ne, Sister Maria," apologized the mezzo soprano with a slight blush. "My mind was...elsewhere."  
  
Sister Maria massaged her temples with a hand and sighed, shaking her head. "Nuzono-chan, you  
know that I want to give you the solo, ne?" she questioned. A few of the other girls frowned at this   
revelation; for the longest time, the quiet girl who seldom spoke to her classmates had been the   
director's obvious favorite, but they had all hoped that things would change in their last year of   
high school. "You have a beautiful voice, but if you don't start to concentrate, I'm going to have to   
give the solo to someone else."  
  
Again, the girl in the spotlight bowed her respect toward the sister in charge. "I am very  
sorry, Sister," she reiterated, still drawing snickers from the other girls in the class. A slight  
blush touched her cheeks as purple eyes focused halfheartedly on the floor. "My concentration has been   
waning of late, and - while that really is no excuse for my misbehavior - I assure you that it won't   
happen again."  
  
The bell rang, its annoying clamor echoing across the choir room. Sighing, the nun rolled her  
eyes as her students all bustled to grab their bags and rush out of the room. "Work on measures fifteen  
through twenty-seven!" she called after them, knowing full well that not a single girl was listening  
to her. "Second sopranos especially need to work on the harmony!"  
  
The door slammed loudly, leaving only one of the students in the classroom. Still standing in  
place, she stared at the floor, unmoving.  
  
"Nuzono-chan?" questioned Sister Maria, moving toward the motionless teen. "Are you alright?"  
  
Blinking, she raised her head, blue eyes clashing with purple as teacher and student stared  
each other down, exchanging silent words and encouragement.   
  
For all the time she had gone to T.A. Girl's Academy - which, as records indicated, was from  
the time she was seven years old - it seemed to Sister Maria as though Nuzono Rei had spoken to few of   
her classmates. The other girls all looked up to her and admired both her beauty and strength, and yet   
she made few friends. In fact, as far as the choir director could tell, Rei talked to absolutely no  
one beyond one redhead in the class below her.  
  
"My father..." whispered Rei nearly inaudibly, still looking directly at her teacher. "He wants  
me to give up my dream and live out his dream."  
  
Snorting, the nun nodded in understanding, bending over to pick up a discarded choir folder.  
"Sometimes, parents do try to force things upon their children because they don't understand," she   
informed her student solemnly. "They have such aspirations for the younger generation... It's almost  
as though they don't remember what it was to be young and full of hope." She smiled up at the teen.  
"You just have to hold onto that hope, Rei-chan, and live out your life the way you want it to be.   
Even if that means you'll have to defy your father to do it." She turned her back to the student,   
filing the ignored folder with care. "After all, my parents wanted me to be a housewife, but I had a  
higher calling."  
  
A small smile crossed the dark-haired girl's face as she strode to stand nearer to her teacher.  
"Honto?" she questioned, as though she didn't believe what the nun had said. "What did you do?"  
  
Sister Maria smiled and shrugged her slender shoulders. "I sat them down and told them that I   
couldn't do what they wanted me to," she informed her student. "They had some trouble with it, but   
I suppose becoming a nun was better to them than me being miserable forever."  
  
Rei nodded, and then scowled as the second bell, the one signaling the beginning of the next  
period, echoed across campus. "Gomen ne!" she called, jetting for the door. "I'm late for social   
science class!"  
  
As a head full of dark hair streamed out of the room, the nun smiled softly after the singer.  
"Ganbatte yo, Rei-chan."  
  
------  
  
She sat on the edge of the pew, legs swinging idly as she watched the ceremony before her.  
  
"Ojii-san," she hissed to the man next to her, long hair flopping into her face despite the   
fact it was held back in a tight braid. "Ojii-san, who's that lady up there?"  
  
Her grandfather frowned slightly, adjusting his bow tie. He had been surprised when the wedding  
invitation read, "To Hino Hito and Nuzono Rei." Somehow, he had expected it to be addressed to his   
precious granddaughter, and her alone. Still, being at a Catholic wedding mass, dressed in a tuxedo  
and listening to Latin mingled with Japanese... He wished inwardly that it had only been addressed to  
his granddaughter.  
  
"That's your father's new wife, Rei-chan," he explained, wrapping an arm around her slender,  
five-year-old shoulders. "Her name is Hajime Minyoku, and she's from Kobe."  
  
Purple eyes blinked as the girl fidgeted, squirming to see the woman who stood at the altar  
beside her father. Long, golden-brown hair streamed down her back, covered by a mostly-sheer veil.   
Rei frowned and turned back to her grandfather. "Is she sup'osed to be my new mama, ojii-san?"  
  
Hito shrugged slightly. Around him, other wedding guests were shooting them dirty looks for  
talking through the ceremony, but with a five-year-old on his hands, the noise couldn't be helped;  
Rei would ask questions until they got answered. "She can be whatever you want her to be to you,   
Rei-chan," he told her softly, smoothing her braid lovingly. "No one can replace your real mother,   
though. You do know that, right?"  
  
Sitting up on her knees in the pew, the girl nodded and watched as her father kissed the woman  
in the white dress passionately, his arms wrapped around her waists protectively. Then, the organ   
started playing a loud, happy song, and the happy couple started down the aisle.  
  
Before her grandfather could stop her, Rei had sprung to her feet and hopped into the aisle,  
grinning excitedly. "Papa!" she called, rushing toward the groom, the man's eyes nearly bugging out of  
his head as he watched the child latch onto his legs. "Papa, I'm so glad to see you! I haven't seen  
you in three months, Papa!"  
  
The Shinto priest scrambled to his feet, uncomfortable and self-conscious in his tuxedo. Dark  
eyes glowered at him, annoyed, as he struggled to pull Rei away from her father. "Your papa is busy  
today, Rei-chan," he told the girl as she tried to maintain her death grip on her father's pants.  
"He'll come visit you next month, promise."  
  
"Papa!" called Rei as she was being dragged back to her seat, the organ song slowly coming  
to a halt as everyone stared at the well-known politician and his sobbing five-year-old. "Papa, don't  
you love me anymore?"  
  
Nuzono Seiji glanced at the crying girl carefully, and then back to his bride. The woman was  
scowling at him, her brown eyes lowered in disgust toward the little girl. From her spot in her   
grandfather's lap, the dark-haired child still fought, trying to reach her father. Her shrieks of   
"Papa" became nothing more than unintelligible, grievous howls.  
  
Hito's gaze met Seiji's, and the younger man turned away.  
  
"Maybe I'll make it next month, just like ojii-san said," he told his daughter, not bothering  
to look in her direction. "Or the month after that."  
  
And, before the girl could respond to her father's words, he was gone.  
  
------  
  
"Whatever happened to Minyoku-san, anyway?"  
  
Hino Hito nearly choked on his ramen, eyes widening to stare across the dinner table at his   
granddaughter. Not often did they eat their evening meal together - normally, she was busy with school  
activities and he had temple duties to attend to - but when they did, it was a silent family moment.  
Yuuichirou had gone to visit his parents for the week, leaving the two Shintos alone to take care of  
the temple. And other things, thought the old man as he gulped down most his tea, trying to recover  
from the teen's question. Like what to do about Seiji.   
  
"Nani ka?" he blinked, as though he hadn't heard her question. Rei scowled at her grandfather;  
he knew exactly what she meant, and just didn't want to admit it. "I didn't hear you."  
  
Purple eyes rolled as she set down her chopsticks, her expression soft. "Whatever happened  
to father's new wife, Minyoku-san?" she repeated softly, turning her face to gaze out the window at  
the falling cherry blossoms and the slowly-darkening spring sky. "I remember the wedding, but nothing  
else involving her."  
  
Her grandfather scowled, focusing back on his dinner. "There wasn't much more to remember about  
her," he informed his charge gruffly. "Your father divorced her less than a year after the wedding. He  
was running on a campaign of kind-heartedness, you see, and the events of the wedding went against that.  
So he blamed it all on her and let her go."  
  
Rei swallowed, turning to look toward her grandfather. "You mean, when he ignored me like he  
did?" she questioned, as though she needed an answer.  
  
"Well, yes, that time, as well as the ta - " Catching himself, he stopped mid-sentence,   
flushing slightly. "Yes, that incident."  
  
"What else happened?" questioned the teen urgently, leaning forward across the table to glower  
at her grandfather. "What else did he do, ojii-san?"  
  
Her grandfather rose quickly from the table, bowing quickly. "A very good meal, but I have  
work I must attend to," he managed to stammer, picking up his bowl and tea cup. "See you tomorrow, ne?"  
  
Purple eyes stared after him.  
  
------  
  
"I don't want to ask," hissed Usagi rather loudly, struggling to act as a counterweight against  
the hand that was trying to push her toward the front desk. The Tokyo Government Center was a massive  
stone building in the center of the city, and the blonde teen couldn't help but feel intimidated by the  
size of the reception area. "If you're so determined, Minako-chan, YOU ask!"  
  
The other blonde immediately backed away from her friend, staring horrified at the information  
desk even as the odango-headed one went crashing into the tile floor. "I am NOT going up there and   
asking!" she insisted, backing up. "He's not just any man, he's the minister of defense!"  
  
"And Rei-chan's father," Makoto reminded her sternly, wagging a finger. Two pairs of bright  
cerulean eyes moved to glance ravenously in her direction, and she nearly tripped over herself, shying  
away from them. "But that was not me volunteering, either!"  
  
The trio of senshi then turned to their fourth member, who was seated on a visitor's bench,  
her nose buried in her Latin homework.  
  
"Thanks for offering to go talk to the receptionist, Ami-chan!" hollered the bow-haired blonde,  
dragging the girl by her school fuku toward the front desk. Navy eyes widened as the genius found   
herself being tugged unwillingly toward the reception area. The secretary, a purple-haired woman with  
thick glasses, frowned as Minako set her friend down in front of the desk. "Now, just ask for Nuzono  
Seiji!" she instructed loudly. "Okay?"  
  
Raising an eyebrow, the secretary glanced dubiously at the blonde. "And may I ask who wants  
to see Nuzono-san?" she asked flintily, looking up from her computer work irritably.  
  
"Of course!" grinned the blonde. "My name is Aino Minako, and this here - " She snatched the  
Latin book away from her ingenious fellow senshi. " - is Mizuno Ami. We're here to talk to Nuzono  
Seiji, the minister of defense."  
  
The woman's frown widened as she stood. "One moment, please," she stated before stalking off  
down a slender hallway.  
  
Joining the others, Makoto glanced at her blonde friend. "I thought you didn't want to ask for  
Nuzono-san," she reminded her stonily.  
  
Minako flashed them both a v-for-victory sign. "I didn't ask for Nuzono-san!" she announced,  
as though it was extremely obvious that she didn't. "Ami-chan did!"  
  
Ami rolled her eyes and focused back on her Latin text.  
  
Reappearing, the secretary set herself back down at the desk and forced an indulgent smile.   
"I'm sorry, girls," she addressed them, as though she was talking to a couple of toddlers. "Nuzono-san  
really doesn't have the time right now to teach you about the government. However, if you would like  
him to come and speak with your school, you - "  
  
"Actually, we're not here for a school function," cut in the brunette hastily, a small frown on  
her face. "We want to speak to Nuzono-san about his daughter, Hino Rei."  
  
An exasperated sigh escaped pursed lips as the young woman rose a second time. "One more   
moment, then," she responded tersely, walking away a second time.  
  
Usagi frowned slightly as the secretary disappeared out of view, turning toward her taller   
friend. "Ne, ne, Mako-chan, don't you think it's odd that Rei-chan's last name isn't the same as   
her father's?"  
  
Blinking green eyes, the tallest senshi glanced down at the blonde. "Honestly, Usagi-chan,  
I've never noticed that before. I mean, I always knew who her father was and who her mother was,   
but..."  
  
There was a thump as the blue-haired one shut her book. Navy eyes glanced toward the other   
three teens carefully. "Don't repeat this," she confided in them, "but Rei once said that she's lived   
with her grandfather since she was very young. She took on her mother's family name, because of it,   
but - "  
  
"I'm sorry, girls," repeated the receptionist for the second time that afternoon, once again  
settling herself into her desk chair, "but Nuzono-san told me to tell you that he does not have a   
daughter by that name. Anything else?"  
  
Four sets of eyes met, exchanging wary glances.  
  
"No, thanks," Minako declined, shaking her head. "I think we've found out all we need to know."  
  
------  
  
She sat cross-legged on the floor of the living room, a stack of home videos on either side  
of her as she fast-forwarded through what was the first six years of her life. When she had been   
very young, her father had bought a video camera and insisted that her grandfather video record   
everything that happened in her life, so he could later watch it and see all the events he had missed  
out on seeing in person.  
  
But the videos never left the shrine. They remained in an old trunk, pushed against the wall  
of the living room, practically forgotten by both Rei and her grandfather.  
  
Currently, she was on the video that chronicled the second-half of her first year in school.  
She watched with a smile as she swept up the courtyard in her first set of miko robes, and as she   
fell off her bike numerous times. She could still see the scar on her elbow from one of those first  
attempts, an attempt that - like the thirty before and the thirty after - had been recorded in glorious  
technicolor for a father who wanted to care.  
  
Or wanted to pretend to care.  
  
Then came a clip she wasn't familiar with. Hitting play, she watched as one of her Juuban   
first-year classmates, a girl with wavy red hair tied up in a teal-colored bow, smiled and strode off  
a make-shift stage.  
  
"Next is Hino Rei-chan, singing 'Amazing Grace.'"  
  
Rei smiled as she watched her six-year-old self hop up the three tiny steps and onto the stage.  
She could remember this! It was her first grade talent show, one of the many pleasant memories from   
when she attended Juuban Public School. Chords of music echoed in the camera's slightly crackly   
microphone as she sang "Amazing Grace," tripping over a few of the notes here and there as only a   
first grader can.  
  
"The Lord has promised good to me,  
His word my hope secures.  
He will my shield and portion be,  
As long as life endures."  
  
She frowned at the words. Even as a six-year-old, she had her forced Catholic roots surrounding  
her, cutting off her air and making her into someone she wasn't. The applause faded away, and a teacher  
stepped onto the stage, smiling brilliantly across the audience of parents.  
  
"And now, Rei-chan's father, a Parliamentary Executive, will close our talent show. Nuzono   
Seiji-san, could you come forward?"  
  
Thunderous applause exploded across the gymnasium as the purple eyes of a six-year-old   
sparkled in anticipation. Rei frowned. It was still during the time that her father was with Minyoku  
that the talent show took place. Could this be what her grandfather was referencing?  
  
"Nuzono-san?" repeated the teacher with a small frown, her face not as bright as she gazed  
out into the crowd, desperately awaiting the appearance of the politician. "Are you here, Nuzono-san?"  
  
A tiny voice echoed across the gym. "Papa?" sniffled the dark-haired child, standing on her   
tiptoes to see across the crowd of proud adults. Whispers hissed across the mostly-silent room, just  
loud enough to be picked up by the camera's microphone.  
  
"Is he coming?"  
  
"What a creep! I'm glad I didn't vote for HIM."  
  
"Poor girl."  
  
"Probably an illegitimate child. You know how those government men are."  
  
The screen went black just in time to catch the little girl on stage bursting into tears.  
The Shinto sprang to her feet and rushed to shut off the video player, tugging the tape from the   
VCR and throwing it across the room in anger. Tears filled her eyes as she watched the plastic break  
into pieces and fall, discarded, to the carpeting.  
  
Now, she remembered. She remembered her first grade talent show, and the fact that her father  
had never shown up.  
  
And with that memory, Rei collapsed to her knees and began sobbing, just as she had done   
eleven years earlier.  
  
------  
End Chapter 2. 


	4. Interlude: Is Now and Ever Shall Be

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.  
The earth was without form and void,   
And darkness was upon the face of the deep;  
And the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters."  
- Genesis 1:1-2  
  
======  
Inori  
Interlude - "...Is Now, and Ever Shall Be..."  
Written by Kate "SuperKate" Butler  
======  
  
"How did you an' Mama make me, Papa?"  
  
She was now almost nine years old, a light in the dark world, a beautiful fourth-grade girl  
with a bright smile and a charming way to look at the world. Her teachers from T.A. Girl's Academy  
often phoned to tell him how far ahead she was from all her classmates. She was a mature child, never  
worrying about the kinds of things other children worried about. One of the sisters had even commented  
that the girl had refused to watch a video in class, calling television "loud" and "moronic."   
  
Still, she seemed to have no friends, no other children to play and run with. She spent all her  
time at the temple, feeding the crows that her grandfather had tamed and learning the way of Shintoism.  
  
Seated on the park bench beside his daughter, Seiji glanced dubiously at the girl. The afternoon  
sun was bright and friendly despite the still-chilly weather of early spring. "I don't understand  
the question, Rei-chan," he admitted, ruffling her long, soft hair. "I don't know what you mean by  
'made.'"  
  
The girl frowned, wrinkling her nose. "You know, MADE," she stressed, her high voice drawling  
out the word rather loudly. "We were learning all about God making everything in school." She paused,  
pursing her little lips. "God created Adam to look like him, and then made Adam's rib into Eve, right?  
And the Holy Ghost gave the Madonna a very special baby, right?" Her father nodded, smiling slightly  
at her recitation of such knowledge. "So, then, was I made out of Mama's rib, maybe? Or did I come  
from the Holy Ghost, too?"  
  
The politician laughed, but his smile faded as Rei scowled up at him, looking almost offended  
by his amusement. "Gomen, musume," he smiled, sipping his coffee casually. "The truth is, dear,  
that you were 'made' out of much love between your mother and I, that's all." He sighed, glancing up  
at the blue sky with sad eyes. "Someday, you'll understand that, I promise."  
  
"Like Kami made people out of her love?" she questioned. Dark eyes lowered in her direction,  
and she flinched, squirming under the harsh glance. "Gomen, Papa!" she apologized quickly. "I forgot  
that I'm not sup'osed to talk about ojii-san and Hikawa with you."  
  
Silence washed over the mismatched father-daughter pair, the well-known man staring at his   
cup of fast-food coffee as his child swung her legs idly from the bench, her shoes just barely scuffing  
the ground.  
  
"So, Rei-chan, what's your Bible verse this week, dear?" he asked of her with a smile, changing  
the subject. "I was told that you're learning the gospels this year in religion class, right?"  
  
Nodding, she raised her chin, looking straight ahead at a small tree that sat across the park  
from them. "'For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him   
should not perish but have eternal life,'" she quoted quietly, a slight blush crossing her face.   
"There's a little more to it, but I forgot the rest. Something about condemnation, I guess."  
  
"Very good," praised her father, once again musing her long tresses. "You're doing very well  
in school, you know. Your teachers praise you for being so smart, and always listening." He paused,  
not sure how far to go with the conversation. "But tell me, Rei-chan, do you have any friends?"  
  
She sighed softly and rested her folded hands in her lap, staring down at the shadow that her  
feet made on the dirt path through the park. "Phobos and Deimos are my friends," she responded softly,  
her voice hardly louder than a whisper. "Ojii-san is my friend, too. And so is Sister Maria, who   
teaches us music at school."  
  
Her father eyed her carefully, running a hand through his dark hair. "That's it?" he asked of  
her, sounding almost disappointed. "You don't play with the other girls at school?"  
  
"I don't want to," she admitted quietly, leaning back against the cool wood of the park bench.  
Purple eyes studied the fluffy, white spring clouds and the bright blue sky above her head. "They're  
really goofy and talk about all sorts of silly things I don't care about. I'd rather spend more time  
at the shrine and be a good miko. That way - "  
  
"You know that you are not to become a miko, Rei!" snapped Seiji irritably, his eyes snapping  
into a glare as he stared down at the girl. She was still staring into the sky, not at all bothered by  
his sudden change of tone. "You are to be a proper Catholic girl, and you are to study politics as an  
adult! How many times must I repeat myself? You are NOT a Shinto!"  
  
Pink lips pursed as the girl's eyelashes fluttered slowly shut. The sun was so warm on her   
face, so peaceful even if her father was yelling... She just wanted to escape the noise and the   
commotion and fly free against the sun, like her crows did...  
  
She sighed and brought herself back to reality, her eyes opening as she sat up straight and  
tall. "I know that I'm not sup'osed to be a miko, Papa," she told him solemnly, "but I think that God  
would understand if I followed that path, you know?" She smiled slightly and looked up at him. "Who  
says that there can't be God AND Kami-sama? Maybe they're best friends, like me an' ojii-san."  
  
Seiji blinked dark eyes at his daughter for a moment, impressed by her mature - if slightly   
strange - response to his outburst. "I don't think that's really possible," he responded coolly, taking  
another sip from his coffee. "I think that there's only one God, and that there's nothing else."  
  
"I bet that you believe in Kami-sama, too," challenged his daughter. "You wouldn't have married  
Mama otherwise."  
  
"Rei-chan!" called a familiar, deep voice, and the politician was shocked to see the girl's  
face light up like a Christmas tree as she rushed toward her grandfather. "Time to come home."  
  
The dark-haired child squealed as her grandfather picked her up and twirled her above his   
head, her long tresses flying behind her like tail feathers. "Now, you say goodbye to your Papa,"   
Hito instructed her sternly. "It'd be rude, otherwise."  
  
Rei bowed deeply toward her father. "Sayonara wa, Papa!" she called before taking the older  
man's hand and skipping off down the path with him, babbling about everything and anything that came  
to mind as she went on her way home.  
  
Nuzono Seiji smiled softly after the girl, a certain sadness to his visage as he watched her  
prance toward home.  
  
"If anything," he breathed, voice nearly lost to the whisper of the wind through the trees,  
"you were created by God in your mother's image, just as Adam was created in his."  
  
------  
End Interlude. 


	5. Chapter 3: Let There Be Light

"And God said, 'Let there be light';  
And there was light.  
And God saw that the light was good;  
And God separated the light from the darkness."  
- Genesis 1:3-4  
  
======  
Inori  
Chapter Three - "Let There Be Light"  
Written by Kate "SuperKate" Butler  
======  
  
"You look as though you haven't slept in a week," observed Makoto with a wag of her finger as  
they sat on the picnic blanket, the brilliant pink sakura blossoms above them brilliant and beautiful  
under the shining spring sun. "Are you doing alright, Rei-chan?"  
  
Through a mouthful of odango, Usagi beamed and clapped her dark-haired friend on the back.   
"She's probably just fine!" she announced, crumbs spewing here and there as she spoke. "It's only  
three days until she's supposed to meet with Nuzono-san, and I bet you that she has everything   
figured out already!"  
  
Minako sighed and rolled her eyes. "Usagi, is it always fools before flowers for you?" she  
questioned, pulling the box of treats away from the other blonde long enough to steal one for herself.  
"Rei is OBVIOUSLY upset, and all you can do is be happy-genki about it!"  
  
"It's FOOD before flowers, Minako-chan," clarified Ami, deadpan. She turned the page in her   
textbook, taking a long sip of her green tea as she studied the page before her. "Must you always   
botch your sayings?"  
  
Twitching slightly, the bow-headed one forced a small smile. "I did that on purpose," she lied  
smoothly between bites of her odango. Then, seeing that Rei hadn't brightened at all by the comical   
passage around her, she frowned. "Rei-chan?" she questioned softly, brushing a loose strand of hair  
from her face. "Are you alright?"  
  
The Shinto blinked her purple eyes and forced a brave smile in the direction of her friend.   
"I'm fine!" she chuckled, reaching for the box of odango. The container was empty, however, a fact that  
caused her unnatural grin to fail miserably. "I was just thinking about what to say to my father on  
Saturday, that's all."  
  
"Still not sure whether or not to take the seat at Tokyo University?" asked Makoto gently,  
reaching to pat her friend on the shoulder. "Well, Rei-chan, I hope you know that we're one-hundred  
percent behind you, no matter what happens."  
  
Usagi flashed the darker-haired one a brilliant, charming grin. "And even if you do end up  
a super-mean politician's secretary like that woman at the government building, we'll still all be  
your friends!" She took another huge bite of her snack. "After all, that's what friends are for!"  
  
As Ami, Makoto, and Minako all face vaulted into their picnic blanket, Rei turned to eye   
her tsuki no hime carefully. "You went to my father's office?" she asked archly, as though she   
thought - or even hoped - that she had misheard the other teen.  
  
Smiling as bravely as she could, Ami tried to avoiding blushing, but her valiant attempt failed  
something awful. "We wanted to speak to him... You know, make him see everything you wish he'd see?"  
She paused, pursing her pink lips carefully. "But he refused to see you. Said that he had no daughter  
by the name of Hino Rei."  
  
"That's because he doesn't," sighed the miko, leaning back on her elbows as she stared idly  
up at the sakura blossoms that blew idly in the wind above her head. "His daughter is named Nuzono  
Rei, and she wants to be a politician and a Catholic, just like him."  
  
She paused, her eyelids fluttering shut as she took a deep breath. The scent of the cherry   
blossoms surrounded her, filling her nostrils with the familiar, happy smell. The smell of so many   
well-spent springs. "Christian lore says that God created the first human, Adam, in his own image,"  
she informed the group of gaping girls. "Well, I think that my father wants his first human - his   
daughter - created in HIS image. And he'll do anything to make sure that she fits that picture-perfect  
dream of his."  
  
Frowning, the bow-headed blonde eyed her friend curiously. "And who do YOU want to be?"   
inquired she, blue eyes carefully watching the face of the dark-haired fire senshi. "Do you want to  
be created in your father's image?"  
  
"I'd rather be in my own image," she responded with a small shrug. "But if I have to be in  
anyone's image, I'd much rather be created in my mother's."  
  
------  
  
She stood solemnly in front of the crowd of people, watching her father carefully for any   
outcry of emotion. Somehow, she - a twelve-year-old girl with an almost obscene sense of justice and   
hope - would expect the press conference about her dead mother to be full of life and excitement.  
  
However, there was no life and excitement to be had. The reporters asked their questions -   
was it really his fault that his wife died? What about the rumor that his daughter had spent the last  
twelve years at a Shinto shrine? How would he deal with the harsh criticism about his lack of family  
skills? - and ran off with their half-hearted answers, leaving her to stand in front of the empty   
folding chairs, staring up at the press podium with wide purple eyes.  
  
Seiji tucked his reading glasses away into his pocket and gathered up his papers, moving to  
sit in one of the empty press seats. "Gomen, Rei!" he apologized quickly, mopping his brow with a   
crisp handkerchief. "I didn't expect that to be as grueling as it was. You were lucky not to be   
targeted as a potential answer key!"  
  
As her father laughed at his own joke, she seated herself in a nearby chair, certain to leave  
plenty of room between them. "I started the seventh grade last month, you know," she told him softly,  
toying with a loose strand of hair. "I'm in the junior high school now, and I'm constantly being   
asked how my parents are."  
  
"Ah, yes, your father's fame bathes you in quite a spotlight, ne?" kidded the dark-haired man,  
tucking his kerchief back into his breast pocket. Silence washed over the room, and he sighed. "Why  
did you insist on coming today, Rei?" he questioned, a bit of annoyance in his voice. "You know I   
don't have the time to just fool around."  
  
"I didn't come to 'fool around,' father," she responded coolly, her purple eyes meeting his   
brown ones with a cold fleck of hatred. "I just wanted to know what she was like, because today is   
the twelfth anniversary of her death, and you've never once mentioned her to me."  
  
The Minister of Defense frowned, arching an eyebrow at his daughter. "'Her?'" he repeated,   
confused.  
  
Nodding, the adolescent turned toward him, eyes narrowing. "Hino Sora-chan," she stated   
bluntly, her voice deadpan. "Also known as my mother."  
  
For a long moment, nothing was said between father and daughter. Instead, they sat together in  
complete and total silence, staring dully at one another as though they had never seen each other   
before. And perhaps they hadn't.   
  
Brown eyes closed as Seiji - his expression full of pain and regret for the first time that  
entire afternoon - smiled sadly. "Sora was the most beautiful woman on the face of this universe," he  
sighed, his eyelashes fluttering open as he turned to glance at the girl beside him. "More than that,  
she was spirited and always hopeful. She was like Heaven on Earth, and I loved her very much.  
  
"But I have goals and dreams," he continued, pursing his lips. "I lost her because my job was,  
and is, my lifeblood." He reached across two empty seats to gently touch his daughter's shoulder,   
caressing it with a hand. "You'll understand someday, Rei-chan. Being a politician is more important  
than anything else in the world, even if you are in love."  
  
She swallowed, hard, and pulled away from his grip. "A politician?" she echoed, hopping to her  
feet. "But, father, you know that I want to be a priestess and - "  
  
"And that is not an option," he responded with a wag of his finger, as though he was talking   
not to a level-headed teen but rather to an unruly toddler. "You will follow my few rules, Rei, or  
you will come home and live with me." He paused, frowning terribly in her direction. "I should have   
expected there to be questions about you and your life at Hikawa," he pressed on, shaking his head,  
"but I didn't think of it. You're lucky that no one made that into controversy, or else I would be   
taking you home with me right now, instead of just considering it."  
  
Purple eyes lowered to a glare as Rei's temper flared. "What do you think mother would say if  
she heard you now?" she spat, anger overtaking her normally pleasant tone as she spoke. "Do you think  
she would have given up all she believed in, just so you'd be happy?"  
  
Smirking triumphantly, the man rose to his feet. "What you forget, DAUGHTER, is that she   
DID give up all she believed in for my happiness." His brown eyes narrowed irately. "I think that's the  
one thing that Sora had and you lack. Patience for unconditional love."  
  
And before the girl could say anything in response, he was gone.  
  
------  
  
Sweeping the steps up the shrine was one of Rei's least favorite chores. Well over   
one hundred stairs led up to the great Tor in front of Hikawa Shrine, and in the cherry blossom   
season, it seemed as though all the petals in the universe had purposely fallen onto the steps, making  
it a task of enormous proportions. Still, she refused to grumble about the task she had been assigned,  
partially because she was a proper miko, and partially because worrying about clean stairs was the last  
thing on her mind.  
  
It seemed to the dark-haired priestess that her father - the Minister of Defense and a cold-  
hearted, almost cruel man, yet still her father all the same - ran hot and cold. He had loved her   
mother, and yet refused to raise her. He knew what the cost of pushing dreams could be - he had lost  
his wife because of it - and yet he pushed her to share in his dreams, no matter what the cost. And -   
as much as he wanted unconditional love - he wasn't willing to trade love for love with his child.  
  
She brushed a strand of dark hair from her eyes as she reached the final step, the very last  
slab of concrete that she was responsible for cleaning. How could a man not want to love his child?  
And how was she expected to give up everything in his name?  
  
"If I didn't know better, I would say that you're lost," stated a familiar voice, accompanied  
by a graceful, soft chuckle. Rei glanced up to find herself glancing into a pair of green-blue  
eyes, eyes so familiar that they could only belong to one person.  
  
"M-michiru-san," she stammered, completely surprised by the wavy-haired woman's sudden   
appearance. She stifled a bow, her confusion obvious. The senshi of embrace and her three companions   
had scarcely been seen since the battle with Galaxia. "What brings you to Hikawa?"  
  
A breeze ruffled the older teen's wavy hair. "Many things bring me on this walk through Tokyo,"  
she responded with a smile, "the least of which being that Haruka is an absolute idiot." She frowned  
slightly, surprised that the miko didn't at least smile at her light-hearted jest. "But you tell me,  
Rei-chan, what's wrong? You seem as though your soul has been torn from your chest."  
  
Pursing pink lips, the dark-haired teen focused on the bristles of her broom, purple eyes   
refusing to make second contact with those of her older companion. "Perhaps I have," she whispered,   
voice almost lost to the other woman. Then, smiling sadly, she began to push the delicate fallen   
sakura petals off the steps and onto the sidewalk. "Michiru," she queried conversationally, "did you  
parents have dreams for you to follow?"  
  
Michiru chuckled, nodding slightly. "Oh, yes, my parents had several dreams I was to live up   
to," she responded in answer, her elegant voice carried on the spring breeze. "I was to be a business  
woman like my mother and marry a head of industry. I think it came as a grave shock to her when I   
took up violin and refused to be the adult she imagined me to be."  
  
"And do you regret it?"  
  
"Regret, Rei-chan, is a funny thing," sighed the wavy-haired woman, her aqua tresses falling   
into her eyes, pushed by the breeze. The priestess could scarcely see her face. "It tends to make us  
petty, bitter, and it keeps us from complete fulfillment in life." She leaned against the bus stop   
sign, glancing up the steps to Sendai Hill. "Tell me though, Rei-chan; do you regret anything?"  
  
The broom silenced as the dark-haired teen froze. Did she regret? She could remember so many  
things she should have done, COULD have done, but... Did she regret anything?  
  
Only one thing came to mind.  
  
"I regret that I could never stand up to him," she breathed, her comment almost completely   
hidden by the rustle of trees in the wind.  
  
Her companion arched an eyebrow. "Stand up to who, Rei-chan?"  
  
"My father."  
  
------  
  
"My friend Ichitaro-kun tells me that you've become good friends with the hospital   
commissioner's daughter," Nuzono Seiji smiled, sipping his coffee casually as he spoke. "Is this true?"  
  
They were sitting in an ice cream parlor, snacking on sundaes and trying desperately to enjoy  
each other's company, even though the years had caused already tense bonds to become more and more   
fragile. Purple eyes stared listlessly at hot fudge sauce, watching as it melted the cool treat   
below.  
  
Sighing, Rei's father rolled his dark eyes. "You go to a private academy with hundreds of other  
girls, and yet the only friends you manage to make are Mizuno-san's daughter and, from what I hear,  
a blonde girl with obscene hair." He paused, pursing his thin lips. The years had treated him well,  
but not well enough; he was finally starting to show some signs of age at the crease of his lips and  
across his brow. "Now, you know as well as I do that a hospital commissioner's daughter is not a bad   
friend to have, but what about the girls at school? Many of them have fathers in high places!" He   
sighed a second time, shaking his head in dismay. "Rei-chan, my dear musume, I would really like to   
see you make friends that are befitting of your status, as well as mine."  
  
She glanced up from her sundae, expression completely emotionless as she looked straight into  
the eyes of her father. For a moment, the world seemed to stop turning.   
  
Then, Rei smiled slightly, stirring her ice cream. "Father," she addressed him softly, "do you  
remember how, in the beginning, God created the light and the darkness?"  
  
Seiji's eyebrows raised slightly. "Yes, I do."  
  
"And that the light was separate from the darkness?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
The girl - now fourteen years old and in the summer of her third year of junior high school -   
allowed her smile to grow into a triumphant out-and-out grin. "Well, father, Usagi-chan and Ami-chan  
are the light, and they have separated ME from the darkness."  
  
The rest of their afternoon visitation - and several after that - were spent in contemplative  
silence.  
  
------  
End Chapter 3. 


	6. Chapter 4: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

======  
Inori  
Chapter Four - "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost"  
Written by Kate "SuperKate" Butler  
======  
  
"My, don't you look confused this morning," joked Hino Hito pleasantly, striding into the   
kitchen with several grocery-filled sacks. The girl at the table just grunted a rather annoyed response,  
and he found himself frowning in her direction. "What's wrong, Rei-chan?" he asked of his only   
grandchild, setting the bags on the countertop before turning to look at her. "I've never seen you do  
homework on a Saturday morning before."  
  
Scowling, purple eyes paused, glancing up from the small, black-bond book to meet with her   
grandfather's gaze. "I'm trying to study for my test Monday, but it seems as though nothing I do can  
make this any easier." She pointed an accusatory finger at the tome in front of her. "This is all the  
stupid Bible's fault!"  
  
Hito laughed. In all his years, he had never seen the fifteen-year-old so absolutely annoyed  
at something from her school. Her temper had gone from smoldering to a blazing inferno over the last  
few meetings with her father, something that the older man had expected to happen. Seiji had plans,  
plans that his child did not want to follow, and he would force them upon her until he was purple in  
the face if it meant getting his way. And somehow, the priest was VERY fearful that his son-in-law  
would win the battle at hand, and force the girl to fulfill his dreams...instead of her own.  
  
Still, his smile didn't fade as he leaned across the table, peering down at the book before  
her. "The Bible, hmm? Well, I can't say that I know a lot about that." He paused, squinting at her   
worksheet curiously. "What are you learning about?"  
  
"The Trinity," muttered the Shinto teen, resting her forehead in a hand as she stared down at  
the blank sheet of questions before her. "How in the world can God be both the Father, Son, AND Holy  
Ghost, ojii-san? It makes NO sense!"  
  
He considered her question idly as he moved toward her countertop and began putting the   
groceries away in their proper places. "Think of them as three machines that all work together to   
produce the same result," he aided her after a brief moment, a bag of sweet potatoes in one hand a   
container of green tea in the other. "Like you, me, and Yuuichirou, all working toward the happiness  
of this shrine."  
  
"Yo!" The shaggy-haired rocker suddenly popped into the room, broom in one hand and a bucket  
in the other. "You beckoned!"  
  
As Rei giggled at her pseudo-boyfriend's odd behavior, Hito rolled his eyes and waved the   
young man away. "Sometimes, Rei-chan, I wonder why we keep him around," he kidded his granddaughter  
with a small smile.   
  
She smiled back at him. "Maybe because you're the Father, he's the Son, and I'm the Holy   
Ghost," she replied with a shrug. "Though, if Yuuichirou is a divine prophet borne of the Virgin  
Mary, I think mankind is doomed."  
  
They both laughed at that.  
  
------  
  
Purple eyes gazed mournfully at the snapshot as she picked it up from her bedside table. Smiling  
faces shone even in the dimming evening sunlight, the familiar happiness of her best friends warming  
her heart as they always did. In fact, she was the only one who wasn't smiling; the picture had been   
taken shortly after an archery tournament she had performed badly in. She regretted the fact that   
she hadn't smiled for Mamoru's disposable camera. It very well could be the last photo she would have  
with those same four girls.   
  
She took her time with the frame, wrapping it in several sheets of tissue paper before adding   
it to the cardboard crate with all her other belongings. Karaoke tapes, volumes of manga, and even a   
few ancient stuffed toys stared up at her as she placed the picture on top and flipped three of the four  
flaps shut. "There," she whispered, staring at the almost-closed box. Tears bit at her eyes as she   
studied her affects. "I'm ready for your hopes and dreams, father. I just hope the cost isn't as dire  
as it feels."  
  
"Rei-chan, I brought you a cup of tea!" called a familiar voice happily, and the dark-haired   
teen didn't need to raise her head to know her grandfather was bursting into the room, armed with a   
tray and two mugs of steaming o-cha. She didn't need to turn around and look in his direction to know  
that he froze in the doorway, gaping at the enormous box in the middle of the room and the barren,   
lifeless bookshelves.   
  
"You've packed, I see," he sighed after a long moment, kneeling at the table as he had so many   
times before. "Ready to see him tomorrow, I take it?"  
  
She snorted, still just staring at the box before her. For a moment, she didn't speak. No words  
came to mind as an answer, no witty retort formed on her lips... Just silence, sweeping over the room,  
heavy and uncomfortable.  
  
Then, reaching blindly for her mug of tea, she sighed and shook her head. "I could prepare for  
what happens tomorrow until the day of my death, ojii-san, and I still wouldn't have enough time."   
Purple eyes moved to glance up at the one picture that had not been taken down, a picture of a smiling  
miko, no older than nineteen or twenty, bending down to feed two silken-feathered crows. "I just   
wonder... What would she say if she could see me, ojii-san?"  
  
Hito's brown eyes moved to look at the framed photo, and a sad smile crossed the old man's   
lips. "Sora was a strong soul, Rei, but I don't think that she could have fared any better than you   
against an adversary such as Seiji," he replied, his words hardly forming much of an answer. "She didn't  
even think of fighting, though. Not against him. She thought that, perhaps, she could change his   
ways."  
  
"She died, thanks to those thoughts," mumbled his granddaughter almost inaudibly, raising a   
hand to push away a falling tear. "She tried to do the impossible, and now she's gone because of it."  
  
"No, Rei. She died because she loved him...and you." A gasp echoed through the room as the   
young woman turned to gape at her grandfather, the man who had raised her from an infant. He scratched  
the back of his bald head idly, suddenly a bit intimidated by her gaze. "She didn't have any regrets,   
Rei-chan, except that she wouldn't be able to see you grow into the beautiful woman she always knew   
you would be."  
  
Tears bit the high school student's eyes as her guardian pressed on. "And maybe she's not here  
to protect you, but I think that her absence has made you stronger." He reached forward, resting a   
hand on Rei's shoulder. "You are my granddaughter, Hino Rei," stated Hito proudly, his head raised  
high as he glanced beyond her, toward his daughter's photograph. "I don't care if you're really Nuzono  
Rei, or if - someday - you're sitting in a Catholic mass, marrying to a Catholic school teacher." He  
smiled as she raised a hand to her lips, trying not to laugh at his words. "What I care about is the  
fact you have spent your life trying to make me - and your mother, as well - proud of you."   
  
Sniffling helplessly, the girl dove toward her grandfather, wrapping her arms tightly around  
his neck. The tears fell freely down her cheeks as she buried her face in his Shinto robes. "I'll  
fight to keep going down this path, ojii-san!" she announced through her wracking sobs. "I'll make you  
and my mother even more proud of me! You'll see!"   
  
He smiled softly and wrapped his arms around his granddaughter's back, hugging her tightly.   
"I don't think that's possible," he responded quietly, gazing sadly at the photograph hanging on the  
wall. "We're both already infinitely proud."  
  
------  
  
"And I know, I know, you probably don't want parenting advice from the likes of us," put in   
Usagi with the wag of a finger, "but we thought you might want our two cents."  
  
Minako nodded eagerly, leaning forward until her blonde hair fell off the couch cushions to  
rest on the carpeting. "After all, she's our FRIEND!" she stressed, as though their passionate   
speeches hadn't made that fact painfully obvious.  
  
The brunette at her side paled slightly, waving a hand. "But it's still your decision, sir,"   
she reminded him, embarrassed by the duo of blondes. "We can't make it for you. We can just hope you   
make the wisest decision."  
  
Ami turned a page in her calculus text and said nothing.  
  
Laughing slightly at the foursome, all of whom were seated on the enormous leather couch in  
his parlor, Nuzono Seiji leaned back in his armchair. How was it that these girls - the four most   
mismatched, silly teens in all of Tokyo - had become best friends with his precious daughter? And did  
they really care so much to come all the way to his home and protest his decision to send her to   
Tokyo University?  
  
His smile turned to a frown as he glanced from teen to teen, analyzing them carefully. There  
was Tsukino Usagi, who seemed to be adorably harebrained and unduly clumsy, almost like a child half  
her age would be. Then was the other blonde, Aino Minako, a loving kindred spirit who was scarily   
similar to her odango-headed friend. Beyond Minako was the tall, wavy-haired Kino Makoto, who was   
trying desperately to make up for all the potential rudeness of both her happy-genki friends. And   
lastly was the ever-silent Mizuno Ami, the daughter of the hospital commissioner, too busy reading a   
calculus book to even say a polite hello.  
  
"I'm sorry, girls, but my mind is made up on the matter," he informed them coolly, reaching  
for his teacup. "Rei has many dreams, I'm sure you know, but I don't think they are proper dreams for  
a girl of her stature. She should be involved in a real career, and help real people." He gestured off-  
handedly to the blue-haired girl on the far end of the couch. "I mean, look at your friend Ami-chan,  
here. She's going to be a doctor like her mother and help people. Perhaps she, too, will be hospital   
commissioner, someday. And that is a responsibility that only a young woman of her stature can   
adequately - "  
  
There was a thump as a thick textbook slammed shut.  
  
"I may be following in my mother's footsteps, Nuzono-san, but I do it of my own free will."  
Navy eyes snapped up from the closed book cover to glance at the man, narrowing slowly as she focused  
in on his face. "Being the daughter of the hospital commissioner does not make me any more qualified   
for the career than if I was the daughter of a salary man, a Shinto priestess, or a politician." She  
rose quickly to her feet, book clutched in her arms as she glowered down at her friend's father.   
"If you force your child down a path, she will never truly be happy with what she's doing, and she'll  
end up bitter and regretful...just like you."  
  
The parlor door slammed shut behind her.  
  
Minako, Makoto, and Usagi rushed to gather their things and follow their blue-haired friend  
out the door, calling out hurried thank yous and goodbyes as they pulled on their shoes and surged  
onto the street. It had begun to rain, the dark sky of early evening even more dark as the cool   
spring storm pounded down around them.  
  
Sighing, Ami leaned against the first lamppost outside the Nuzono residence, staring idly into  
the street. "Gomen nasi," she smiled sadly, blushing a bit as her three friends gaped at her. "I   
wasn't thinking about what I was saying until it was too late..."  
  
The brunette chuckled slightly and held out her umbrella toward the dripping wet genius. "It's  
alright, Ami-chan," she assured her, smiling widely as the smaller teen accepted the shelter. "I think  
he needed someone to tell him that."  
  
"Maybe so," sighed Usagi, face screwed into a frown as she watched the lightning flash across  
the city, "but we may never know if it made any difference."  
  
The thunder echoed ominously behind her.  
  
------  
  
"Ara ara, Rei-chan, are you really afraid of the thunder?" he laughed, watching as the girl   
shrunk away from the balcony window, choosing to watch the storm from a safe distance. "That's not very  
fitting of such a smart little girl!"  
  
Scowling indignantly, the three-year-old made a face at her father. "What would Papa know, huh?"  
she challenged, tossing her long hair as she spoke. The week-long stint of living away from the temple  
had been upsetting for her, Seiji knew, but her grandfather had obligations out of town that needed to  
be dealt with. Still, the child never seemed so self-righteous and haughty on their Saturday afternoon  
visits. He chuckled as another clap of sound made the girl jump. Maybe there was a bit of Sora in her,  
after all.  
  
Crouching down, he leaned against the cool pane of glass, resting his cheek on it gently.   
"Try this, Rei-chan," he encouraged her, using a hand to pull her a bit closer to the window. "The  
storm can't get you, not in here. It's super glass."  
  
"Papa is crazy," observed the child with a wrinkle of her nose. "Papa made that up to get   
Rei to not be scared of the thunder anymore!"  
  
But, despite her protests, she couldn't help but take another step closer to the doorway,   
her purple eyes wide. Trembling, she reached forward and touched a hand to the cool surface, flinching  
in preparation for the fright that would come.  
  
The thunder sounded, and nothing happened.  
  
"Sugoi!" she grinned, following the man's lead to lean against the glass. "Papa was right!  
The thunder can't get Rei!"  
  
Seiji smiled sweetly and ruffled her hair, saying nothing.  
  
------  
  
"Papa..."   
  
She pulled her face away from her bedroom window, listening to the thunder rumble across Tokyo.  
Her purple eyes filled with tears, and she struggled to choke them down. "Papa, I..."  
  
Her words were whispered, hardly audible over the sound of the storm.  
  
"Gomen ne, Papa."  
  
------  
  
"Gomen ne, Rei."   
  
Nuzono Seiji stared out across the city, his cheek rested against the glass of his balcony   
door. He didn't need to look at his reflection in the glass to see years of wrinkles and eyes full of  
sadness. They were there, sure as the sun shone in the morning and the moon in the evening.  
  
The blue-haired one's words echoed in his ears. "If you force your child down a path, she will   
never truly be happy with what she's doing, and she'll end up bitter and regretful...just like you,"  
Mizuno Ami had admonished him before stalking out of the house.   
  
How right could she be?  
  
The politician frowned. "Just like you?" Could he really be setting his daughter up for a   
life that horrible?  
  
He pulled away from the window and sighed, shaking his head.  
  
It was time to make the hardest decision of his life.  
  
------  
End Chapter 4. 


	7. Postlude: World Without End

"'Behold, I am coming soon,  
Bring my recompense,   
To repay everyone for what he has done.  
I am the Alpha and the Omega,  
The first and the last,  
The beginning, and the end.'"  
- Revelations 22:12-13  
  
======  
Inori  
Postlude - "...World Without End."  
Written by Kate "SuperKate" Butler  
======  
  
They sat across the tiny table from one another, wordless and motionless as they each sipped  
their separate beverages. Usually, the tiny coffee shop was bustling with activity, but the spring day  
was unusually warm, leading most of Tokyo's citizens toward their yards and local parks to romp and   
play, rather than sitting silent in a coffee shop.  
  
Steam rose off the murky brown liquid that was Hino Rei's o-cha, and - even though she was   
completely ignoring her drink - she couldn't help but wonder if it would ever cool off. The radio   
behind the counter bleared happy lines from a J-Pop song. Normally, she would have hummed along or   
tapped her toe, but today...  
  
Today was not the day for that. It never would be.   
  
"So, Rei-chan... How have you been?" questioned Nuzono Seiji softly, forcing a smile as he   
glanced at his only daughter. His once-shaggy dark hair was thinning in the back and at the top, leaving  
him with an almost patchy look. Wrinkles rimmed dark brown eyes and pale, pursed lips, wrinkles that   
were only accentuated when he made himself smile. "Is school going well? And how are your dear friends?  
What were their names, again...?"  
  
She resisted the urge to roll her purple eyes, still staring down at her drink as she responded.  
"Usagi, Ami, Makoto, and Minako," she replied coolly, no sign of an emotion whatsoever to her tone.  
"School is fine. Sister Maria has assigned me a solo for next month's choir concert. And life..."  
Sighing, she shook her head. "Life was infinitely good up until Monday. It's gone a bit downhill,   
since."  
  
The politician nodded slightly, unsure of how to counter such a comment. Normally, he would have  
immediately scolded the girl, rushing in with a million reasons for why her words were wrong. But she  
was no longer a nine-year-old who wondered about which God to believe in, or a spirited twelve-year-old  
defending her choices. No, she wasn't any of those things. She was a frightened child, like she had been  
at three, when the thunder rumbled in the distance and the lightning flashed. She was a goofy child,  
running up to him at his wedding and getting ignored for her trouble.   
  
And she was a young woman, just weeks away from her seventeenth birthday, with hopes and dreams  
and prayers.  
  
"Did you know, Rei-chan, that your mother and I gave you a middle name like Westerners tend to  
do?" he questioned, catching her completely off guard. Her head snapped up, gaze locking almost   
involuntarily with his. He smiled slightly and nodded, affirming the mental question she had not yet  
asked. "I was thinking about doing diplomat work when you were born, you see, and we had the chance to  
go to the States. So we decided to give you a middle name, just to make you a little more Western."  
  
She frowned, her brow creasing. What was he getting at? What point was he trying to make in   
such a round-about way? "What is it?" she asked softly, words nearly catching in her throat.   
  
Seiji smiled broadly at her. She really had grown into a beautiful young woman. Somehow, though,  
there was an emptiness in her bright eyes, a regretful sparkle that didn't seem to want to leave.   
  
But maybe he could help it lose a bit of its luster.  
  
"Inori," he responded, pulling a few folded sheets of paper from his blazer pocket and sliding  
them across the table. "Your full name, when written in the Western style, is Rei Inori Hino."  
  
Rei's eyes blossomed as sakura blossoms in spring as she glanced down at the sheets of paper  
before her. "Father, you can't be serious!" she gasped, her gaze fluttering between him and the pages.  
"This is - "  
  
He nodded, handing her a pen. "An emancipation contract," he informed her, answering the   
question that she couldn't bare to spit out. Purple eyes stared directly at him, waiting for more   
clarification. Waiting for a catch.  
  
Seiji sighed, his smile sad. "You are beautiful, and smart, and every time I look at you, all  
I can think of is Sora." Tears started to well up in his brown eyes as he watched his daughter flipping  
through the contract idly. "I ruined Sora's life by forcing her to adhere to my dreams. She loved me  
enough to, but I think she was hoping that she could make me become someone I wasn't, which is just   
what I'm trying to do to you, Rei-chan." He reached across the table, taking one of her hands in his   
and squeezing it tightly. "I've spent the last few days thinking about a lot of things, and I've decided  
that this is YOUR path. Not mine. You can walk it however you want to, and all I can do is support   
you." A tear coursed down his cheek, and he did nothing to stop it. "I'll be the Papa who taught you  
to stand up to the thunder, not the Papa who made you do everything you didn't want to. Not the Papa  
who hurt you. Never again."  
  
"Papa..." choked Rei, leaning across the table to wrap her arms around his neck and hug him   
tightly. "Papa!"  
  
"I'm here, musume-chan," whispered the Minister of Defense, "and I'm willing to be here as   
long as you want me."  
  
------  
  
Spring had come at last and - for one of the few times in her life - Hino Rei found herself  
striding down the sidewalk with a grin on her face and a bounce in her step. The rain from the night  
before had left few puddles on the pavement as she bounded toward Sendai Hill, a ridiculous smile   
upon her face.  
  
As she had done only days before, she took the steps in twos and threes up toward Hikawa   
Shrine, pausing only briefly at the Tor to send a silent thank you prayer toward Kami-sama above.  
She and her father, together, had already gone to the government office to file the emancipation   
contract, and the lawyers in charge had assured her that, by the time school was over Monday afternoon,  
she would be officially on her own.  
  
"I'm home!" she announced happily, her face alit with a brilliant smile. "I'm really home   
for good, this time!"  
  
"Rei-chan!" smiled a deep voice, and - before the priestess could even hesitate to recognize   
it - she was wrapped up in Yuuichirou's arms, being swung around by her shoulders. Her feet and hair  
flew out behind her, causing her to squeal like a small child.   
  
As soon as the assistant priest set her down on the ground, Rei smacked him in the back of the  
head. "Yuuichirou no baka!" she scolded him, her normal 'pleasantness' taking over as she watched   
a newly familiar shadow emerge from the steps up to the shrine. "What do you think you're doing?"  
  
"Eh, Rei-chan, you're mean," groused the young man, scowling slightly at her as he moved to   
scratch the back of his neck. "After a whole week, aren't you glad to see me?" His frown deepened as he  
looked beyond her and at the new, suit-garbed stranger standing under the Tor. "Ano... Do you know  
him?"  
  
From his spot under the prayer tree, sweeping, the priest of the shrine glanced toward the  
stranger, a slight half-smile forming across his lips. "Seiji," he nodded. "Glad to see you again."  
  
Nuzono Seiji returned the half-smile with one of his own, also nodding a polite hello. "The  
shrine looks well, Hito," he replied casually, as though he was speaking to an old friend. "Just as it  
was when I last saw it, seventeen years ago."  
  
Yuuichirou blinked his hunter green eyes. "Ara, Rei-chan..." he whined, a bit apprehensive on  
being left completely out of the loop.  
  
Rolling her eyes, the miko wrapped an arm around his waist and pointed toward the man under the  
Tor. "Kumada Yuuichirou, this is my father, Nuzono Seiji" she introduced with a smile, her purple eyes   
shining in the afternoon sunlight. "Papa, this is Yuuichirou, my grandfather's apprentice."  
  
The Minister of Defense bowed a proper hello toward the stammering, twitching Shinto. "Pleased   
to meet you, Yuuichirou-kun. I trust you're taking good care of my little Rei-chan?"  
  
"H-h-h-h-hai," managed the shaggy-haired one, nearly doubling over as he spoke. "I will always  
take good care of her, promise!"  
  
Laughing, Rei tipped her head back, staring up at the bright blue sky and fluffy white clouds  
of spring.  
  
"Ne, Mama?" she questioned the wind, holding onto her skirt as the breeze ruffled her long hair.  
"I just wanted you to know that I'm happy. Alright?"  
  
As if to answer her, a sakura blossom slipped from the nearest cherry tree and landed at her  
feet, unmoving.  
  
She smiled.  
  
Today, she decided, really WAS going to be a good day.  
  
------  
End Inori. 


	8. End Notes

Credits, Disclaimers, and Special Thanks  
  
- Many of the chapter titles, lines, quotes, and even ideals come from the Christian faith. Yes, Rei   
is technically Catholic, but I have prescribed to the Presbyterian translations of many songs and   
prayers, due solely to the fact that I have no access to Catholic works. Sorry.  
  
- "Amazing Grace" is written by John Newton in 1779. And yes, I know that lots of people know this   
fact, but I don't want his last remaining great-great-great-grandnephew reading this and freaking out  
on me.  
  
- Bible quotes taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible.  
  
- "Food before flowers" is a phrase used to describe the people who come to sakura-viewing parties   
only for the food served, not the sentiment of the festival.  
  
- "Inori" means "prayer" in English.  
  
- Sailor Moon and all respective characters, settings, and plot devices belong to Naoko Takeuchi, TOEI   
Animation, and Kodansha Limited. I do not reserve the rights to any of these things, so please please   
PLEASE do not sue!  
  
- All original characters, plot elements, and settings belong to Kate Butler. Those ARE mine, so don't   
try to take them.  
  
- If I had to pick a theme song for this fic, I would have to pick Maaya Sakamoto's song "Koucha."  
Why? I do not know. But I listened to it while writing the last couple parts, and I think it fits with  
the mood of the story. Go figure.  
  
- Special thanks to everyone who read and reviewed this fic, both on ASMR and ff.net.  
  
- To Mark-kun, who proves that God really DOES have a sense of humor when he answers prayers. ^_~  
  
- Visit A Sailor Moon Romance! www.moonromance.com  
  
- Visit Fanficiton.net! www.fanfiction.net 


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